John c



(No Model.)

J. G. STEVENS.

ROPE WINDING APPARATUS. No. 537,730. PatentedApr. 16 1895.

ZZ77/6J66J" jiwemr:

' Jaim/ 6. Slew/532,5.

JOHN C. STEVENS, OF HARTFORD,

ATENT FFIQE.

CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE CASKET LOWERING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ROPE WlNDlNG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,730, dated April16, 1895.

Application filed July 14,1894.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN C. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Hartford, 1n the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRope-Winding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rope-winding apparatus, and has specialreference to that class of apparatus known as hoists, or apparatus inwhich a rope, carrying a weight at the free end thereof, is first woundupon a drum and subsequently unwound and allowed to become loose, orsag, by releasing the weight at the free end'thereof.

The object of my present invention is, to provide, in connection with arope-winding drum, means for automatically guiding the rope during theoperation of winding or unwinding, and to so construct and organize theparts of the winding apparatus, as a whole, that the succeeding coils ofrope will be wound upon the drum with the utmostprecision and withuniform velocity, and whereby the succeeding coils of the rope will alsobe wound contiguous to and in planes parallel with each other.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification,Figure l is a plan View of a portion of a rope-windingapparatusembodyingmypresentimprovements, said figure showing a ropepartially wound upon the Winding-drum of said apparatus. Fig. 2 is avertical cross-section of the winding apparatus, taken in .line aot,Fig. 1, looking toward the left hand in said figure, a portion of therope-carrying guide being shown in side elevation.

Like characters designate like parts in all of the figures.

In the preferred embodiment thereof, herein shown and described, myimproved ropewinding apparatus consists in part, and in combination witha revoluble rope-winding drum, ofarope-guide (shown herein asspringheld) supported for sliding movement at one side of and inparallelism with the rope-carrying face of the drum, and having aropeguiding portion, (shown herein as'the upper end thereof) normally incontact with the Serial No. 517,542. (No model.)

tion of the guide, when in its normal position positively holds incontact with the drum (as by means of the walls of its ropereceivingguide-way) that portion of the rope carried in the guide-way of suchrope-guiding portion or end of the guide and lying between said por tionor end of the guide and the adjacent face of the drum, all of which willbe hereinafter more fully described.

The frame-work, which may be of any suitable construction andorganization for carrying the several operative details of theapparatus, is designated in a general way by B, and is herein shown asconsisting of the base 2, having the upright 3, at one side thereof, abracket 4, for carrying an idle-wheel, and a set of remotely-disposedbrackets 5 and 5, for supporting the winding drum, which brackets willusually be secured to the frame-work B by bolts or lag-screws in awell-known manner.

A drum-shaft is shown, at S, as journaled in bearings, 6 and 6', formedupon these brackets, and will be driven from any suitable source ofpower (not shown); and mounted upon said shaft, preferably intermediateof the brackets 5 and 5, and adapted to rotate with said shaft, is showna rope-winding drum B. This drum will usually be of the ordinary,cylindrical type, having the usual, annular flanges, as S, at oppositeends thereof, and preferably provided with elongated hubs, 9, at itsopposite ends, to provide a long bearing for the drumdriving shaft.

A rope-guide is shown, at G, as shiftably supported, at one side of thedrum D, and is formed with a passage-way or guide-way, as 10, preferablyat the upper end thereof and tangentially disposed relatively to theperipheral line of the drum, one end of said guide- Way normally havingits walls contiguous to the rope-carrying face of the drum, this upperend of the guide being also approximately in vertical alignment with theaxis of the drum. Theguide-way 10is, ofconrse, adapted for receiving andguiding the rope, designated by R, during the winding and the unwindingthereof.

The ropegnide is shown herein as preferably in the form of a curved arm,the curve of the inner face of said arm corresponding with that of theperiphery of the drum. This arm is shown as carried at its lower endupon a supporting rod, 12, which rod is shown supported at its oppositeends for sliding movement, in parallelism with the axis of the drum, inbearings formed in the brackets 5 and 5'. The rope-guide will usually belocated between the drum D and the upright 3 of the frame-work, theguide-way 10 being formed in the under side of the upper end thereof andsubstantially tangentially disposed relatively to the periphery of thedrum. The rope-guide is also shown as normally held against the ropecoiled upon .the drum, during both the winding and the unwinding of therope, bya retracting-device, shown herein as a spiral spring, 14,surrounding the rod 12, and bearing at its outer end against theabutment or stop 15 upon said rod, and at its inner end against theouter face of the bracket 5. This retracting-device, or spring, acts toretract the rod and the rope-guide, and also the rope carried by saidrope-guide, and to draw them toward one end of the drum (shown herein asthe right-hand end) so that the guide will be spring-held against, andmaintained constantly in engagement with, the coil next adjacent to thatcarried by the guide.

In practice, the rope R will usually be secured to the drum contiguousto one of the flanges 8, and the opposite end of the rope will extendaround the drum and throughthe guideway 10 in the rope-guide G, whenceit preferably passes over an idle-wheel, 16, carried by a shaft, 16,journaled in the arms of the bracket 4 and in parallelism with the axisof the drum, this end of the rope being connected with the body to behoisted or lowered.

During the operation of winding the rope upon the drum assuming that thefirst coil, c, has not been wound, the rope-guide will be held by thespring 14 contiguous to the flange 8, (to which the rope is secured) andthe rope carried by said guide will be in position for forming the coile. Upon the rotation of the drum in the direction of the arrow shown inFig. 3, this first coil will be wound, after which the rope, when itarrives at a point adjacent to the starting point of the coil e,will,together with the guide, be carried sidewise, and the second coil,f,will be wound upon the drum and in contact with the first coil, thetension exerted upon the rope-guide insuring a close contact between thesuccessive coils, and at the same time preventing relative overriding ofthe coils. This operation, it will be obvious, will be reversed whenunwinding the rope from the drum 1); so that the guide constitutes awinding-off, as well as a windingon, guide and, hence, not onlypositions the coils during the winding of the same upon the drum, but isalso itself positioned by the coil next adjacent to that carried by saidguide, during both the winding and the unwinding of the rope.

In practice, the guide-way 10, formed in the upper end of the guide G,will be of considerable length, so that the outer end 17 thereof will besubstantially in alignment with, or slightly over-reach, a vertical linedrawn through the axis of the drum. This also provides a long bearingfor the rope, and better adapts the same for straightening out any kinksor bends in said rope as the same passes through the guide-way.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In an apparatus of theclass specified, the combination with a revoluble rope-winding drum, ofa spring-held rope-guide supported for sliding movement at one side andin parallelism with the rope-carrying face of the drum and having itsrope-guiding portion normally in contact with the rope-carrying face ofthe drum whereby said rope-guiding portion is normally maintainedconstantlyin engagement with the coil next adjacent to that carried bythe guide and said guide also having arope-carryingguide-way in thedrumengaging side of its rope-guiding portion whereby the rope-guidingportion of said guide when in its normal position positively holds incontact with the drum that portion of the rope carried by therope-guiding portion of the guide and lying between said portion of theguide and the adjacent face of the drum, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus of the class specified, the combination with arevoluble rope-winding drum; of a rod supported for sliding movement insuitable brackets adjacent to said drum a shiftable rope-guide mountedupon said rod and carried at one side of the axis of the drum andnormally in contact with said drum, said guide having a ropecarryingguide-way in the drum-engaging side of the' tact with the drum thatportion of the rope carried by the guide and lying between said guideand the adjacent face of the drum; and a retracting-device in connectionwith and adapted for retracting said rod and the ropeguide carried bythe rod, and for maintaining said rope -guide constantly in engagementwith the coil next adjacent to that carried in said guide-way,substantially as described.

' 3. In an apparatus of the class specified, a revoluble rope-windingdrum; an idle-wheel substantially in parallelism withsaid drum; arope-guide supported for shifting movement longitudinally of the drumand intermediate of said drum and idle-wheel and normally in contactwith the drum, and having upon its drum-engaging side a rope-receivingguide-way tangentially disposed with relation and in close proximity tothe periphery of the drum, the walls of said guide way being adapted topositively hold in contact with the drum that portion of the ropecarried in said guide and between the same and the face of the drum; arope secured at one end to the drum and extending through the guidewayand over the idle-wheel; and a retracting-device in connection with saidrope-guide and adapted to maintain the same constantly in engagementwith the coil next adjacent to that carried in said guide-way,substantially as described.

4:- In an apparatus of the class specified, the combination with theframe-work, and with the revoluble rope-Winding drum mounted thereon; ofa shiftable rope-guide supported at its lower end and at one side of andbelow the axis of the rope-winding drum and normally in contact with thedrum, and having upon the under side of its upper end a ropereceivingguide-way extending above the periphery of the drum and terminating atone end in approximately vertical alignment with the axis of said drum,the walls of said guide- Way being adapted to positively hold in contactwith said drum that portion of the rope carried in said guide andbetween the same and the face of the drum; and-a retractingdevice inconnection with said rope-guide and adapted to maintain the sameconstantly in engagement with the coil next adjacent to that carried insaid guide-way, substantially as described.

JOHN C. STEVENS. Witnesses:

FRED. C. ROCKWELL, FRANCIS H. RICHARDS.

